Peter Dutton has ‘grave concerns’ over Islamic State brides

Peter Dutton has ‘grave concerns’ about the national security implications of the Albanese government’s plan to repatriate families left behind by Islamic State fighters in Syria.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton. Picture NewsWire / David Clark

Peter Dutton has “grave concerns’’ about the national security implications of the Albanese government’s plan to repatriate families left behind by Islamic State fighters in Syria, following a briefing by chief spy Mike Burgess.

The Opposition Leader received a briefing from Mr Burgess, ASIO Director-General, on Tuesday, after The Australian revealed the agency had conducted final assessments on the 58 women and children held in al-Roj camp in northeast Syria, with a view to repatriating them.

Saying the briefings were at a “top-secret level’’ and he would not detail the discussions, Mr Dutton noted that the information “builds on my own knowledge of these matters from having been a member of the (national security) committee for a number of years and home affairs minister before’’.

“I must say I am more strongly of the view now that there is a very significant risk in bringing some of these people to our country that can’t be mitigated, frankly, not to the level we would require to keep Australians safe,’’ he said.

“I think the government really needs to explain properly what it is they’re proposing here.’’

Mr Dutton, who was one of the Coalition government’s fiercest opponents of repatriating the families over the past 3½ years, stopped short of directly opposing the government’s plans, which are still being finalised. “They’re dreadful circumstances. It pains me greatly … to see children in particular in difficult circumstances and that’s the reality of what their parents have dragged them into or what they’ve been born into,’’ he said.

“But where we’ve got young males potentially of fighting age who have been indoctrinated over the course of the last decade or so, in some instances, where they’ve been living for years now in a camp – socialising with people who have either committed terrorist attacks or who have been planning terrorist attacks – then we need to take it very seriously.’’

The Australian has been tracking the children in the camps for the past three years, and cannot positively identify any teenage boys. One boy is about 11, and there are several teenage girls, including several who are 16.

Adolescent boys are not allowed to stay in the camps with their mothers and are removed once they turn 12 and put into youth prisons for what the Syrian Democratic Forces call “Cubs of the Caliphate’’.

The only Australian boy known to be detained in a youth prison, Sydney’s Yusuf Zahab, is believed to have died earlier this year at 17. He was separated from his mother at the fall of Islamic State at Baghouz in March 2019 at the age of 14, locked up in a youth jail and was never sent to a camp.

ASIO and the Australian Federal Police have repeatedly warned that young children are becoming radicalised, mainly online, and can pose a threat from a young age. ASIO has the power to question children as young as 13.

Mr Dutton said he accepted the advice from Mr Burgess about the risk mitigations. “Based on my experience and knowledge … and understanding now what it is that the government is proposing, I hold grave concerns about national security,’’ he said.

“I think it is incumbent upon the Prime Minister or a national security minister … to say what it is the government’s proposing, what risks they’re willing to take, because we don’t want to be complacent in our country.’’

Anthony Albanese has not spoken about the repatriation plan.

In a statement, Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil said: “The Australian government’s overriding priority is the protection of Australians and Australia’s nat­ional interests, informed by nat­ional security advice.’’